Water Features: Waterfalls, Ponds & Fountains

When designing water features for the garden, our landscape architects explore the balance between movement and stillness. We use water in our Great Falls and McLean landscape designs to compose garden scenes that are soothing and restorative.

SOMETIMES A FLAW in your yard can can be turned into an asset by a creative landscape architect. The waterfall and pond shown here were designed to cover a problem drainage area on the property. Instead of fighting the water, our designer made the most of it — and made a statement.

Garden Water Features: Moving Water and Still Water

Look closely and you will see a bronze figurine of a turtle catching rays on a mossy boulder in the middle of this koi pond. This could be your private garden retreat.

A THOUGHTFULLY DESIGNED LANDSCAPE appeals to all the senses—primarily sight and smell. Water features contribute added elements of movement and sound to the garden atmosphere. A moving water design might call for the rumpus of a splashing fountain or the soft music of a feeder stream trickling over stones at the edge of a pond.

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED that still water has a calming effect that brings inner stillness? An artful landscape design can recreate that effect using a lily pond populated with aquatic plants and koi—or a simple reflecting pool. We employ moving water to generate vitality and still water as a restorative. As illustrated by the photographs on this page, waterfalls and ponds naturally go well together.View photos of our water features here

Waterfalls & Ponds In the Garden

IT’S A PLEASURE to sit by a little garden waterfall and listen as the stream splits into strands and showers over an artful arrangement of rock ledges. The photo (right ) shows a waterfall dropping into a koi pond.

FALLING WATER MAKES ITS OWN MUSIC, and injects revitalizing freshness into the surrounding air. From a purely practical point of view, this little waterfall aerates the water for the aquatic life in the pond.

Garden Fountains

THERE ARE SOME popular types of fountains and water features that our clients request again and again. That’s because fountain styles are so adaptable. They can be scaled to perfectly fit nearly any size or style landscape installation. A fountain could be something as simple as a large urn with water bubbling over the rim of the vessel. It could be a multi-tiered cascade. The fountain’s “splash factor” can be customized to suit the surroundings and the preferences of the client. The installation can also be fine-tuned to deliver just the right degree of sound and/or movement desired by the client.

Our friends are blown away by the beauty of the front courtyard & fountain.”

The Three Most Popular Styles of Garden Fountains

Formal Style Fountain

Fountain Style One: Formal This type fountain would be suitable for a classic European garden design style. Abstract sculpture and statuary make a strong visual statement due to their mass. It works well in a formal setting where the visual design theme is expressed through symmetry.

Naturalistic Style Fountain

Fountain Style Two: Naturalistic There is a range of possibilities when designing a water feature in the naturalistic style. This photo shows a fountain fashioned from boulders of varying shapes and sizes. We drilled holes then piped water through them. The water flow trickles up through the stones, then drapes over the arrangement into the surrounding ground cover.

Vessel Style Fountain

Fountain Style Three: Vessels The simplicity of a vessel type of fountain works well in smaller gardens—or as an accent feature in a larger garden. Ceramic urns or planting pots are typically used in this installation. The tray shaped fountain shown here puts a creative spin on the vessel style fountain. In spite of its mass, it appears to float above the flower beds that surround it.

Who Will Maintain Your Water Features?

SELF-CONTAINED FOUNTAINS require little maintenance. Ponds and moving water features use pumps and filtration devices. These do require periodic maintenance. We can give you a month-by-month schedule and show you what to do when—or you can leave it to us. Our Garden Management Division has expert technicians versed in all the mechanical and electrical equipment installed in your landscape environments.